Fort Myers Police Chief Derrick Diggs discusses biggest ‘crime concerns’

FORT MYERS, Fla. Fort Myers Police Chief Derrick Diggs spoke to a room full of citizens to talk about his ambitions for the city and his biggest concerns.

Chief Diggs said his three main focuses for the department are ending the violence, gaining the community’s trust and enabling progressive policing.

“We have to garner support, especially in communities that need our services so much,” Chief Diggs said.

Neighbors in the Dunbar area say they can see a difference in the crime rate since Chief Diggs started.

Mary Isaac moved to to her home on South Street 37 years ago and has seen the ups and downs of Fort Myers, including the deadly shooting over the weekend.

“I feel like there’s less violent crime and what just happened, that was really a shock to me because in just this little block we seldom have anything happen,” Isaac said.

Chief Diggs says homicides are down by 88 percent, and overall violent crimes are down by about 25 percent.

“We’re heading in the right direction, are we done? Are we where we need to be? Absolutely not.” he said.

Chief Diggs says he has big plans for the next year, such as adding more surveillance cameras around town, making sure every officer has a body camera and every patrol has a dash camera.